Middle East

Trump says loathe to cut arm sales, even if Saudis killed Khashoggi

US President Donald Trump said the Khashoggi case is 'being investigated, it's being looked at very, very strongly' (AFP)

US President Donald Trump has said in excerpts from a CBS interview that there would be "severe punishment" for Saudi Arabia if it turns out that missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

However, Trump said he did not want to block military sales to Saudi Arabia, one option that has rattled US defence contractors, saying "there are other ways of punishing".

Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Riyadh and a US resident who writes columns for the Washington Post, disappeared on 2 October after visiting the consulate.

Sources close to the Turkish investigation into the disappearance have told Middle East Eye that Khashoggi was dragged from the consul general's office inside the consulate before he was brutally murdered by two men who cut up his body.



"We're going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment," Trump said.


"There's something – you'll be surprised to hear me say that, there's something really terrible and disgusting about that if that was the case, so we're going to have to see."

Asked whether the Saudi government gave an order to kill Khashoggi, Trump said: "Well, nobody knows yet, but we'll probably be able to find out.

"It's being investigated, it's being looked at very, very strongly," Trump added in excerpts of the 60 Minutes interview, which will air on Sunday.


Long-time US ally

The US has been under increasing pressure to demand answers from Saudi Arabia, a long-time US ally in the Middle East, as to Khashoggi's disappearance.

US-Saudi relations have grown even stronger since Trump took office.

He visited Saudi Arabia on his first international trip as president, announcing $110bn in proposed arms sales with the Gulf kingdom at the time

Major US defence contractors have expressed concern to the Trump administration that US politicians angered by Khashoggi's disappearance will block further arms deals with Riyadh.

But Trump said he did not want to lose military sales to Saudi Arabia that are coveted by US competitors Russia and China, also exporters of military equipment.

Asked about possible ways to retaliate against the Saudis, including imposing economic sanctions, as a bipartisan group of senators has proposed, Trump said: "Well, it depends on what the sanction is. I'll give you an example.

"They [the Saudis] are ordering military equipment. Everybody in the world wanted that order.


"I don't want to lose an order like that," he said, mentioning the companies Boeing, Lockheed and Raytheon.

"And you know what, there are other ways of punishing," he said, without elaborating.

Original Article

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